"MUSLIMS make an incredibly valuable contribution to our country," said President Bush shortly after September 11, noting that they are "doctors, lawyers, law professors, members of the military, entrepreneurs, shopkeepers, moms and dads." He later added that "there are millions of good Americans who practice the Muslim faith who love their country as much as I love the country, who salute the flag as strongly as I salute the flag."

These soothing words were clearly appropriate for a moment of tension and mounting bias against Muslims living in the United States. And it is absolutely true that the number of militant Islamic operatives with plans to carry out terrorist attacks on the United States is a statistically tiny proportion of the Muslim population as a whole.

But the situation is more complex than the president would have it. The Muslim population is not like any other, for it harbors a substantial body -- one many times larger than the agents of Osama bin Laden -- that has worrisome aspirations for the United States. Although not responsible for the atrocities in September, this militant Islamic element shares important goals with the suicide hijackers: both despise the United States and ultimately wish to transform it into a Muslim country.

However bizarre this goal, the killing of five thousand Americans requires that it be noted and seriously considered.

Ambitions to take over the United States are hardly new. In fact, the first Islamic missionary from abroad unblushingly declared in the 1920s, "Our plan is, we are going to conquer America." Such hopes have become more commonplace in recent years. Some examples, as articulared by leading figures:

Omar Abdel Rahman, the blind sheikh convicted of planning a "day of rage" by blowing up New York buildings and infrastructure, in 1991 called on Muslims to "conquer the land of the infidels."

A native-born American who converted to Islam and helped fight the Soviets in Afghanistan, proclaimed that "it is the duty of all Muslims to complete the march of jihad [holy war] until we reach America and liberate her."

Siraj Wahaj, the first imam to deliver a Muslim prayer for the U.S. House of Representatives, holds that if Muslims unite, they could elect their own leader as president; "take my word, if 6-8 million Muslims unite in America, the country will come to us."

Isma'il Al-Faruqi, the first academic theorist of a United States-made-fundamentalist-Muslim, argued in 1983 that "Nothing could be greater than this youthful, vigorous, and rich continent [of North America] turning away from its past evil and marching forward under the banner of Allahu Akbar [G-d is great]."

Zaid Shakir, formerly the Muslim chaplain at Yale University, believes the Koran "pushes us in the exact opposite direction as the forces ... at work in the American political spectrum" and from this argues that Muslims cannot accept the legitimacy of the existing order.

Masudul Alam Choudhury, a Canadian professor of business, matter-of-factly advocates the "Islamization agenda in North America."

Ahmad Nawfal, Jordanian who spoke often at American rallies a few years ago, says that if fundamentalist Muslims stand up, "it will be very easy for us to preside over this world once again."

Shamim A. Siddiqi wrote a book on establishing "Islamic rule" in the United States, with the goal of Muslims creating "a strong lobby in Washington for the promotion of Islam ... in this country as well as elsewhere in the world."

Some organizations also express a hope that one day Muslims will take over in the United States. The International Institute of Islamic Thought in Herndon, Virginia, aims for nothing less than "the Islamization of the humanities and the social sciences." Just one month after the September 11 atrocities, a delegate at the San Jose convention of the American Muslim Alliance, a militant Islamic group, announced: "By the year 2020, we should have an American Muslim president of the United States."

While there is no reason to suppose that the aspiration to replace the Constitution with Islamic law will succeed, that this goal can be found among fundamentalist Muslims does have a major implication.

It means that the existing order - religious freedom, secularism, women's rights - can no longer be taken for granted. It now needs to be fought for.

Don't laugh. 5000 fewer Americans have the opportunity to feel threatened, or not, than a few months ago.

LLAN-DDEUSANT: 25,000 Americans die in traffic accidents a year, 25,000 in gun deaths. 5,000 more is hardly a statistical blip.

Buckeroo: You can't equate accidental deaths around the country with the intentional planning of murdering 6,000 Americans within the WTC.

LLAN-DDEUSANT:Auto deaths may be accidental, but most gun deaths certainly are not. Your value system is distorted. This was a grim and brutal crime, but just a crime that happened when we failed to take some basic and relatively inexpensive steps to avoid it.

Buckeroo, now lighten up. LD has explained to us 9/11 was just a big car accident, an easily preventable one at that. I knew it was our fault. You and I may consider it murder, but that's just our distorted American value system at work.

These people are no different than the Communists. Each must dominate in order to rule their kind of rule. Any dissent is immediately and brutally crushed, even suspected dissenters are murdered, usually after being horribly tortured as a lesson to others. Nothing but devout and constant adoration is acceptable.

When you look at the likes of Hillary Clinton, Tom daschle, Dick Gephardt, et al., you are seeing the same faces of evil. They seek to gain power by stealth and once that power is gained what do you think they will do? Look what they do when not in power. Look what they do to try to achieve power. Why would you expect them to change once they gained power?

This is a battle between good and evil, just as Bush said, and we MUST win it or perish. If the liberal Democrats gain control we are no better off than if the Muslims or Communist gain control. They are all they same masquerading under differnt banners.

Although not responsible for the atrocities in September, this militant Islamic element shares important goals with the suicide hijackers: both despise the United States and ultimately wish to transform it into a Muslim country.

How is this any worse than the leftists who despise the United States and want to turn it into a socialist country? Sadly, if you were to eliminate everyone who wants to "change" the U.S., you'd eliminate half the population.

But if their attempts are PEACEFUL, then I have to problem with anything described here. "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof..." If a Muslim wants to preach his religion on a street corner and try to spread it to the masses, he has just as much right in my book as the LDS missionaries, the Jehovas Witnesses, the evangelistic Baptist ministries, the Hare Krishnas, and every other religious group in this country. There isn't a problem until they try to take it beyond peaceful preaching, and try to force it on people who aren't interested. Till then, they can dream about whatever kind of America they want...it's not like we'd convert anyway.

Disclaimer:
Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual
posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its
management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the
exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.